17-year cicadas are due, but should skip us; if not, try bagpipes??_BINARY_1002013

After 17 Years, the Northeast Is About to Be Blanketed by a Swarm of CicadasSmartNews: It's been 17 years since the cicadas of Brood II swarmed the northeastern United States. A mass of winged creatures, red eyes glowing, the cicadas "are expe

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By
Sheila Lennon
Posted Mar. 24, 2013 @ 2:03 pm

After 17 Years, the Northeast Is About to Be Blanketed by a Swarm of Cicadas

SmartNews:

It's been 17 years since the cicadas of Brood II swarmed the northeastern United States. A mass of winged creatures, red eyes glowing, the cicadas "are expected to emerge and overwhelm a large swath of land from Virginia to Connecticut -- climbing up trees, flying in swarms and blanketing grassy areas so they crunch underfoot," says WNYC.

But apparently not to Rhode Island or the rest of New England, according to this chart at Are the Periodical Cicadas coming to your town? at Cicada Mania. To be sure, I clicked to this map at Magicacada. Sure enough, they stop short of us, perhaps because they emerge in spring "once the soil 8 inches below the surface gets to 64 degrees Fahrenheit." I doubt our soils will get that warm that deep while it's still spring.

There's some fun stuff about these cicadas at the Cicada Mania link, and a wonderful bagpipe forum page about pipers being swarmed by them when playing slow songs. Perhaps slow bagpipe music could be a trap crop?